So the final DF65 winter series race at West Lancs YC took a different turn on Sunday. The top three spots in the series were already decided so those three skippers plus two others decided to enjoy a spot of DF95 racing instead. We guess that this is the largest gathering to date of a DF95 fleet and it was a great day to go racing.

JT (51), Liz T (4) and Tim Lanigan (no number)

Over the day there were 12 races and 4 skippers won at least one race showing how tight the fleet was. The wind was interestingly light and flukey and during the lunch break it even made a 180 degree switch that made the course change for the afternoon racing pretty simple!

Tim Lanigan (no number) and Liz T (4)

Unsurprisingly John Tushingham showed up with a custom A suit which looked really neat as we have come to expect. Liz Tushingham was sporting one of the NCA demo fleet with stock sails, John Brierley and Tim Lanigan were sporting stock boats and Tim Long turned up with a stock boat apart from the pimped hull stickers.

JB (84) and Tim Long

The boats were very evenly matched throughout the day, perhaps JT’s custom sails made the difference or perhaps Liz puts something in his Weetabix at breakfast each morning, we’ll never know but he was clearly the quickest skipper of the day.

JB took a couple of races to get into his stride but once there he was often seen heading the fleet at the finish line despite getting tangled up on a start mark whilst leading a race.

JB recovering his boat after catching a mark

Tim Long set off well then got too excited about the gravity of the day and went off the boil a bit before winning a race, running out of battery and then finishing the last race of the day in second spot to finish the day third overall.

Tim Lanigan was the only skipper not to win a race, however he was sailing a borrowed boat from Derek Priestley which had a few technical issues during the morning session before making better progress in the afternoon. Liz Tushingham won a race and had some solid finishes but in a fleet this tight the numbers soon stack up.

JT finished first, JB second, Tim Long third, Tim Lanigan fourth with Liz T in fifth spot.

The DF65 racing was enjoyed by six skippers and after the 12 races Mike Parkington took the top spot with Chris Chatfield in second and Sue Parkington in third spot.

The overall West Lancs YC winter series was wrapped up at the last event with JT taking the top spot, JB in second and Tim Long in third spot.

West Lancs YC will be holding the inaugural Dragonfest in May as well as a few other DF events over the course of the sailing season, these dates will be posted on the events page.

Thanks to all those who worked hard to make the series a great success and we look forward to the 2017 winter series which starts on the 8th January.

So we are now in a situation where we have the DF65 and the DF95 which is great news. Lots of you will be like kids at Christmas over the next few days and weeks as your boats arrive.

Here at the association HQ we’ve been pondering how best to deal with the new class from our point of view and we have decided that the simplest way is to incorporate the DF95 class website into the DF65 website. The reason for this is that the concepts are very similar and much of the structure for the two classes is pretty much the same. Also it means that I have one less website to update all the time!

So early next week we will be changing the web address of this site to make it all a bit more cohesive. The site will stay the same but the web address will change to http://www.dfracinguk.com  so please update your bookmarks with the new address.

In the meantime we will be adding some extra content to allow you to register your DF95 and have access to the rules and sail templates.

We hope that this is an easy transition which should be pretty seamless from your point of view.

With a local IOM event attracting one or two of the regulars, 12 skippers turned up for the final round of the series, including John Tushingham. 11 sailed DFs but John Hinde made a change and sailed his JIF 65 which was a good choice in the conditions.

The NNW breeze was quite gentle and A rigs were no problem from the off, but the wind was shifty and reading the shifts was a real test.

JT won the first race, followed by John Bush from Doncaster and Dave Darwell from the home club third after a close race. In the second, Dave D made his intentions clear and took the win with John Hinde sailing an excellent race for second and Tush in third.

John Tush took the third race and this time it was Mick Tonkinson hard on his heels. John Hinde then took race 5, JT race 6 and John Hinde again getting the bullet in race 7. While this was going on, Dave Darwell and Chris More were never far away, Mick T took 3^rd in race 5 and Lisa More who has been ever present in the series had an excellent 4^th in race 7 beating husband Chris to the line in a very close finish.

John Tush took race 8 chased home by John Hinde and that was time for lunch. As always Joanne and her team at the Lakeside Cafe did us proud.

The wind was forecast to drop a little and it certainly did. After lunch racing was slow and the course shortened but after only 4 races in the afternoon, the wind was so light that there was a danger of the event turning into a ‘Drift Fest’ so Paul Rudkin, OD for the day and suffering from ‘Double Man Flu’, started the calculation process.

In the afternoon, John Tushingham took 3 wins, Dave Darwell had a third, two seconds and a win, Chris More had a second place in race 9 and Jo Sharpe woke up at last and took a third and a second, beating JT to the line by less than a boat length in the final race, just a few lengths behind DD.

In the five race series, the Balne Moor MBC Yachting Section’s first foray into Open races, we had a total of 70 entries, nobody fell in the pond, although Paul Rudkin had an unassailable lead in this category after the fourth event, defying gravity, teetering on the very brink for what seemed like an age, and everyone seems to have enjoyed themselves as well as getting in some good racing to start the year.

On the day, the results were:

John Tushingham (Keighley)                 14 points

Dave Darwell                                       22 points

Chris More                                          43 points

John Hinde                                         47 points

Jo Sharpe                                           51 points

Mick Tonkinson                                   55 points

The final Series results (best 4 scores) were:

Chris More                                          12 points

Dave Darwell                                                13 points

Jo Sharpe                                           15 points

John Tushingham                                19 points

John Bush                                           24 points

Mick Tonkinson                                   28 points

John Hinde                                         28 points

What next? The BMMBC DragonForce Open on 17^th April and the arrival of the first five DragonFlites into the club later this week.

Thanks to everyone who’s supported the series and we look forward to seeing you back at Askern Lake very soon.

For all you guys and girls in the South East there is an open event at Chipstead MYC on the 12th March, more details on the events page.

A chilly but sunny day with a gentle breeze was what met the 12 skippers who turned out at West Lancs YC and after some coffee and a bacon butty they set off for the first of 16 races. There was trouble for Tim Long even before the off with his boat “899” suffering some sort of electrical hissy fit, later found to be a transmitter issue which caused him to use his spare boat for the days racing.

John Brierley took the first race from John Tush and it looked like being a great return from holiday for JB. The places were reversed for race 2 with Tim Long showing no problems with the hastily tuned spare boat taking third spot and Mike Parkington in fourth.

These four skippers spent the majority of the day battling between themselves in a class of their own, however JT didn’t have it all his own way taking only 10 of the sixteen bullets, Tim took 4 and JB took 2 before having a rudder servo failure in race 7 which took him a couple of races to sort.

Lunch was lovely and warming then back out to the racecourse for the second half which saw JT improve along with Mike P and JB and Tim not do quite so well, probably needing a snooze after a big lunch!

The racing was tight all the way through the fleet with Alan Fearnhead and Roy Kissick both taking a second place in one race.

Final reckoning saw the wind drop out and tea and cake was the order of the afternoon. JT took the day with 16 points, Tim took second with 27 followed by JB on 40 and Mike P on 45. Mike scored an incredibly consistent day and apart from JT he had the lowest discard score of the day counting six fourth places. Roger Lincoln took fifth spot with Liz T in sixth.

Congrats to all the skippers that took place, the final event is in 2 weeks time and although JT has wrapped the series up there is still all to play for between JB and Tim Long for second and third spots.

Sorry for the delay folks, however there were a few final details that we needed to get sorted before putting the website live. Click the link here to take a look at the DragonFest 2016 website which has all the details on how to enter the event, what to expect and some useful event documents too.

With the 5 Round Series nicely poised, 15 skippers turned out for Round 4 of the BMMBC Winter Series and again it was a 100% DragonForce turnout.

Those travelling from the North reported that less than 10 miles from Askern Lake there was no wind and pouring rain, but at the lake we were greeted by a good westerly breeze, with sporting gusts coming through and no rain. In fact it stayed dry all day and the sun even made a 10 minute cameo appearance during the afternoon.

Paul Rudkin briefed the fleet and racing got under way just after 10am with some skippers on ‘A’ rigs and others on ‘B’.

Chris More started the day by sailing away from the fleet and taking a very clear win, chased down by Jo Sharpe and John Bush. In the second race, Dave Darwell got into his stride and took the bullet and in the third race, rapidly improving Balne Moor skipper John Hinde took the win. John took the fourth race too and then Dave won races five and six.

Jo Sharpe popped up and took the win in race 7, then Dave took another bullet to take us through to the lunch break. A good morning with 4 different winners in 8 races and excellent fare at the from Joanne Moon and her team at Lakeside Cafe as always.

Straight after lunch, with the wind freshening and some of the gusts overpowering even ‘B’ rigs, Dave Darwell took two wins. In the 11^th Race, Mick Tonkinson, another rapidly improving skipper who’d been in the hunt all day took a very well deserved win. Races 12 and 13 were won by Joanne, the 14^th by Dave Darwell, Joanne again took the 15^th and Dave the 16^th to finish off an excellent days racing.

So, 6 different winners in a day of 16 very close races, with several other skippers sailing very well and deserving mention. Chris Wright from Ripon sailed well all day, getting 5 second places and never being far from the business end of the fleet, Simon Richardson was also there or there abouts all day with two seconds and four thirds and Jim Haddock had several good finishes, the best of which was a second place in race 3. Chris More sailed very well as always, but was hampered by one or two rig breakages which kept him out of the top 3.

The final results after 16 close races were:

Dave Darwell                21 points

Jo Sharpe                     35 points

Chris Wright                 51 points

Mick Tonkinson            60 points

Simon Richardson        61 points

And the Series couldn’t be closer going into the final round in two weeks time. With one discard the scores are:

Chris More                    9 points

Jo Sharpe                     10 points

Dave Darwell                11 points

John Bush                    16 points

As always, great efforts from Cliff Paskall Jefferies and Paul Rudkin and big thanks to the skippers who are supporting this series and making it so strongly contested and yet friendly very good fun.

Sorry, no photos again, everyone was too busy sailing.

As Sundays go this one was pretty good on the weather front, very chilly with a light NE breeze which was set to increase throughout the day. A somewhat depleted fleet of 7 DF65’s lined up for the first race including series leader John Tushingham and Tim Long who were absent from the last event having been in Germany at the launch of the new DF95.

Tim was quick out of the blocks and took a bullet in the first race from the ever improving Mike Parkington and the seemingly out of sorts JT with Liz Tushingham, Roger Lincoln, Sue Parkington and Mike Lavender completing the board.

The next race saw Mike P and Tim swap places with Roger L in third and Liz in fourth, JT completed the race in fifth place and seemed to be struggling, however he got a trim on and took races 3, 4 and 5 and looked like he had returned to form but another stutter meant that it was another three races until he took another win, those three races were shared between Tim and Roger with Mike P putting up some consistent scores and Liz posting a couple of good scores too.

After lunch JT didn’t score less than a second and looked to be on for the usual win with Tim trying hard to take the pin end of the start with him up the beat on no less than three occasions giving the fleet a good 10m head start. That said he was able to work back up through the fleet and as the wind increased good trim was key to making those tacks first time and Tim did take three of the afternoon races.

Mike P took a string of seconds and thirds through the afternoon session but in his own words “could have done better” having struggled to nail tacks consistently as the wind increased. Roger, Liz and Sue traded places all afternoon and there were some good battles amongst the smaller than usual fleet. Mike L struggled with the standard sails and setup as the wind increased, however he did finish most of the races in only his first time racing.

So at the end of the day it was almost too close to call however Tim took the top spot from JT by a mere 3 points over 14 races with Mike P in third and still in touch on points.

So JT has been beaten, no mean feat, however all is not quite what it seems here. Whilst Tim did indeed put in a great performance it should be noted that JT sailed a completely box fresh DF65 as supplied with no aftermarket sails, no aftermarket radio and no work done on prepping the boat at all. In the end it was the rig that let him down as the wind increased and he was unable to put as much rig tension on as he would have liked and this meant that he wasn’t able to nail the tacks when he wanted.

So it can be done, you can sail a completely boggo boat and be competitive. Here endeth the lesson and we expect to see John back at the next event with his own GBR 100.

Race Report

Balne Moor MBC Winter Series 7^th February 2016

16 skippers were blessed with a good breeze and blue skies at the start of the third round of the BMMBC Winter Series. Two welcome friends and new faces to the series were Martin Hallums from Keighley, returning to DF racing after a significant break and Cathy Wilson for her first DF race this year.

The all Dragon fleet started on a mixture of A and B rigs and the breeze was one of those testing ones, definitely A in the lulls and definitely B in the gusts.

It didn’t take long for the two returning skippers to wash the dust off their boats, the first three bullets going to Martin, Cathy and then Martin again, with Dave Darwell and Chris More never far away. Cathy quietly used the port bias on the start line to great effect, particularly in the morning, clocking up no less than 3 wins before lunch.

In the 4^th race it was Chris More’s turn for the win and this set an interesting trend for the day in which, over 15 races, no less than 5 different skippers had bullets, Dave Darwell getting the first of his two wins in the day in the 9^th race and Jo Sharpe getting her first of two in the 8^th race. And it was close right down the fleet with 4 more skippers having top 3 finishes; Mick Hebden, John Bush, Bert Down and John Goodyear.

After 3 or 4 races, everyone had had either settled for A rig or changed up to it, and there the wind stayed for much of the morning. However the forecast was for it to freshen and freshen it did to the point shortly after the lunch break when B was the only practical choice and even then, several skippers were displaying their rudders down wind, Mr. Darwell giving a particularly well choreographed display

With 15 races completed, Paul Rudkin set about calculating scores just before 3pm and the result was a win for Martin Hallum.

1^st        Martin Hallum (Keighley)

2^nd        Chris More

3^rd        Cathy Wilson

4^th        Jo Sharpe

5^th        Dave Darwell

6^th        Bert Down (one of our very welcome visitors from Ripon SC)

7^th        John Bush (struggling manfully on an A rig all day)

8^th        John Goodyear (From ROFWAC)

With two more events to go, the Series is now neatly poised with John Tushingam (absent on IOM duties this week) leading the way, chased by Chris More, John Sharman (now on his ‘Grand European Tour’), Jo Sharpe, John Bush, Dave Darwell and John Goodyear.

Once again, huge thanks go to Cliff Jefferies for sterling work as OD (he claims to have the loudest voice in Doncaster – and nobody argues with this claim) and Paul Rudkin slaving over the results after being at the pond at 8am laying buoys (No !! Look at the spelling).

Sorry, no pics this week, everyone was too busy racing !!

The next event will be on 21^st February and we’re looking forward to another excellent day of close racing at DN6 0JB with support from our friends around the Northern District clubs.

Having attracted a fleet of 16 boats for the first event in this new Series, hopes were high for this second event and nobody was disappointed.

22 skippers turned out and were rewarded with kind temperatures, a dry day and a pleasant breeze at Askern Lake.

To start the day, John Tushingham kindly delivered a Masterclass at the lake side, giving everyone some special insights into tuning the DragonForce for best results and several skippers commented on how helpful this had been, getting instant performance improvements.

When boats got on the water, this resulted in some very close racing – for second place with – guess who leading the way most of the time – he’s not National Champ for nothing!

The Lakeside Cafe proved once again to be an invaluable part of the facilities at Askern, serving an excellent lunch of stew and dumplings to those who had booked the meal deal during the lunch break in a day of 14 races.

John Tush took a clear overall win with John Sharman a good second and Chris More from the Wykeham club third.

After two events in this five event series, the overall positions are very interesting

1^st John Tushingham (Keighley)

2^nd John Sharman (Keighley)

3^rd Chris More (Wykeham)

4^th Geoff Quinn (Leeds & Bradford)

5^th Jo Sharpe (Balne Moor)

However, with the John Tush away for at least the next event and John Sharman off touring Europe (in Hetty the Hymer) for the rest of the series, everything is still to play for.

Huge thanks to Cliff Jefferies for sterling work as OD and Paul Rudkin slaving over the results.

The next event will be on 7^th February and we’re looking forward to another day of close racing at DN6 0JB.